I never thought that I would do a glowing revue for a production cue, but stranger things have happened. While out in another part of town to drop off a bearing with my mechanic for my motorcycle transmission, I decided to hit up the pawn shops while in foreign territory. I rarely get over the west hills in Portland, so it was fresh inventory for me to check over. Dufferin sneaky at one, shit at the others, then I walk into the largest shop of the 5 that I found on my way, and low and behold, I find most everything I hate in a cue at a price I couldn't pass up.
What do I hate in a cue you might ask? First off, me no likey production cues. Why? Well I generally find them overpriced for what they are. I've had Runde and non-Runde Schon's, C and D series Mcdermotts, a Viking, Willie Hoppe Titlist, a Mali, 70's Joss and maybe one or two other productions in my time. Beside the Joss, all of the other cues I had purchased for $200 or less. At lower prices, I don't mind giving one a whirl, sell it for a good percentage and go on my way. Generally in the pawn shops I see round point Schon's for $500 and up, PJ McDermotts for close to $200 and for some reason, Meucci's Originals and Predators in the $600-$800 range. Side note, I have not paid more than $800 out of pocket for any cue. I have bought and sold to build up the cue treasury.
At those prices, I want sharp points, made by a guy in his garage with premium wood, with the slight caveat of being in the secondary market.
Don't get me wrong, there has not been a bad cue in the bunch, just nothing that has really struck the right chord with me. To be honest, the old McDermotts played amazing for me. Not sure why, but amazing playing cues.
Not a fan of floating points or CNC work. Floating points speak for themselves, they are innately ugly. They seem to separate the points from the cue instead of compliment each other. CNC work doesn't make me think of handmade work. It leads me to think of someone pushing enter on the keyboard after a design program was installed. Kudos for the design, but computer assisted machining seems like the easy way out.
Uni-loc quick release pins are the ugliest pins besides Schmelke's barrel of a pin and the split joint pin in shaft Dufferin's. I'm being a little nit picky, but so be it. I know that pins are more for mating than appearance, but but ugly is still ugly.
Last on the list is the shaft. This is a little more biased than visuals, but I have not been a fan of Predators simply because I find their prices completely out of line and the idea of spending as much or more as a nice shaft made of solid good wood, you get multiple slices of wood glued together in a country where the cost of labor is a very small fraction of the actual selling price. Truth be told, I have not played with many of their shafts, but at least half of them that I have, felt hollow and empty in the hit.
With that out of the way, I picked up a J. Pechauer SE-3 Predator cue, 314 with the uni loc quick release pin, CNC'd points, all 40 of them, did I forget to mention I also hate points in the butt sleeve. The true saving grace is the materials used, ebony, BEM and abalone. I do have a fondness for those three and particularly when done together. Being wrapless is also a wonderful added benefit.
I thought it was a little cheesy looking, but had a nice balance and it hit the balls nicely, a much better feel than I was expecting actually. I've always been a fan of quality at realistic prices. I first tried a few games of snooker and played much better than I was expecting. Got a call from a buddy to play some 9, and 4 and 1/2 hours later, I had a new appreciation for the cue. Being a bit of a cue snob that I am, if you couldn't tell already, I was miffed at the idea of liking this cue. I've sold cues that didn't quite look how I wanted, while they still played great. I guess I need to remind myself that I can't look at the cue and shoot with it at the same time. After all, it is just a game, isn't it?
What do I hate in a cue you might ask? First off, me no likey production cues. Why? Well I generally find them overpriced for what they are. I've had Runde and non-Runde Schon's, C and D series Mcdermotts, a Viking, Willie Hoppe Titlist, a Mali, 70's Joss and maybe one or two other productions in my time. Beside the Joss, all of the other cues I had purchased for $200 or less. At lower prices, I don't mind giving one a whirl, sell it for a good percentage and go on my way. Generally in the pawn shops I see round point Schon's for $500 and up, PJ McDermotts for close to $200 and for some reason, Meucci's Originals and Predators in the $600-$800 range. Side note, I have not paid more than $800 out of pocket for any cue. I have bought and sold to build up the cue treasury.
At those prices, I want sharp points, made by a guy in his garage with premium wood, with the slight caveat of being in the secondary market.
Don't get me wrong, there has not been a bad cue in the bunch, just nothing that has really struck the right chord with me. To be honest, the old McDermotts played amazing for me. Not sure why, but amazing playing cues.
Not a fan of floating points or CNC work. Floating points speak for themselves, they are innately ugly. They seem to separate the points from the cue instead of compliment each other. CNC work doesn't make me think of handmade work. It leads me to think of someone pushing enter on the keyboard after a design program was installed. Kudos for the design, but computer assisted machining seems like the easy way out.
Uni-loc quick release pins are the ugliest pins besides Schmelke's barrel of a pin and the split joint pin in shaft Dufferin's. I'm being a little nit picky, but so be it. I know that pins are more for mating than appearance, but but ugly is still ugly.
Last on the list is the shaft. This is a little more biased than visuals, but I have not been a fan of Predators simply because I find their prices completely out of line and the idea of spending as much or more as a nice shaft made of solid good wood, you get multiple slices of wood glued together in a country where the cost of labor is a very small fraction of the actual selling price. Truth be told, I have not played with many of their shafts, but at least half of them that I have, felt hollow and empty in the hit.
With that out of the way, I picked up a J. Pechauer SE-3 Predator cue, 314 with the uni loc quick release pin, CNC'd points, all 40 of them, did I forget to mention I also hate points in the butt sleeve. The true saving grace is the materials used, ebony, BEM and abalone. I do have a fondness for those three and particularly when done together. Being wrapless is also a wonderful added benefit.
I thought it was a little cheesy looking, but had a nice balance and it hit the balls nicely, a much better feel than I was expecting actually. I've always been a fan of quality at realistic prices. I first tried a few games of snooker and played much better than I was expecting. Got a call from a buddy to play some 9, and 4 and 1/2 hours later, I had a new appreciation for the cue. Being a bit of a cue snob that I am, if you couldn't tell already, I was miffed at the idea of liking this cue. I've sold cues that didn't quite look how I wanted, while they still played great. I guess I need to remind myself that I can't look at the cue and shoot with it at the same time. After all, it is just a game, isn't it?
